Fulham men in move to save the Cottage

Share

DEAR PREMIER SOCCER, Vincent Heywood (Premier Postbag, October 4) can rest assured he is not the only Fulham supporter in Hong Kong. Including me, that's two of us and who knows? Perhaps there are others walking around town with the 'Am I the only Fulham supporter?' syndrome.

Fulham have made a great start to the season and it must be more than a coincidence that this has happened after years of uncertainty over the redevelopment of the ground and the relocation of the club has finally been resolved.

In their centennial year, the club has now obtained planning consent to develop Craven Cottage, one of the most attractive grounds in the league, located next to the River Thames.

Part of the arrangement requires the club to raise GBP1 million by 1999 to renovate the Stevenage Road stand and the Cottage, which was originally built in 1780.

With this aim, Fulham supporters have established a company called 'Fulham 2000' with radio personality David Hamilton and former players Johnny Haynes, George Cohen and George Best as patrons. To date, Fulham 2000 has raised nearly GBP330,000 from membership fees and various donations and fund-raising activities. Any soccer fan interested in preserving one of England's most picturesque grounds who who would like further details of Fulham 2000 can contact me on 2785-2005.

Geoffrey E. Green, Pokfulam.

Referring to the letter from Peter Walsh about the use of a second referee (Premier Postbag, October 18), I fully agree with his opinion as it has been introduced into other sports very successfully (i.e., cricket).

Even though cricket is a very long game, I think it's better to waste a few minutes here and there than to waste people's lives - like the Romanian player in Euro 96 when he scored an excellent goal against Bulgaria, only for the referee to disallow it. Because of that, Romania went out of the competition.

I think the second referee should only be used if there is some dispute over a goal, whether it has been scored or disallowed. This is the most important thing in football and the only time the second referee should be called on.

Calvin Sakhrani, Kowloon Why does Cable TV move the goalposts at the last minute? Last Saturday's live match was due to be Middlesbrough v Spurs and yet, on the eve of the action, it turns out to be Nottm Forest and Derby County. As a lifelong 'Boro fan, to say I was annoyed is a gross understatement having, in the days before we had Cable TV locally, travelled to China to watch Bryan Robson's men in action on Malaysian TV. I don't see why Cable can't keep to their original schedules. Some fair play is needed here - as I am sure it would never happen to Manchester United or Newcastle. Mark Richardson, Sha Tin